Software

It is up to you to ensure your computer and mobile devices are protected from malicious threats.

It is that time of year when the latest version of a piece of software, which seems to have a permanent residence on my various computer systems, makes its annual appearance.

While it makes sense to insure your valuable possessions, surely this action should also apply to your data with the insurance taking the form of a backup product.

Adding to its portfolio of graphics products, Xara has released its Designer Pro X365 offering. This product brings together elements of vector illustrations, photo editing, page layout and web design within a single WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) package.

Of all the keys on a computer keyboard, the one that tends to be the most confusing for novice users is the one labelled Print Screen or Prt Scr.

Being able to try a program for seven days and remain anonymous, or thirty days just for giving a little personal information is a big plus in making a decision as to if this program does exactly what you want it to do, yes it has a free trial.

This is the latest version of a trusted Backup program. It is designed to make the job of file backup easy and if it becomes easy then maybe more people will do what is a boring job more regularly. This is not a full system backup just a file backup there is a distinct difference.

In the right hands this product can give you amazing results, it can create 3D images from photographs add cartoonish features and much more however it can also create lip sync to audio or voice so you can be there even when you are not.

So what version would you expect to follow version 11. In the case of this next product it is a sizeable jump to 365.

Following on from its popular industry leading portrait make-over software, entitled Portrait Pro, Anthropics Technology has moved its focus from the foreground to the background with its new LandscapePro software.

The more you use Windows, the more reluctant your computer will be to perform at its optimum level. This next product offers to help.

I have used Samplitude Silver for some time; I probably use only a small amount of its ability in my regular adjustment of .wav files. Here it’s very big brother ‘think Twins’ and this Arnold to Danny. So exactly what can this powerful product do?

As its version number of X8 indicates, CorelDRAW has been around for a good number of years. In fact this software’s first appearance was back in 1989 as it offered users full colour vector illustration and layout functionality on the Windows platform. Over the years this software product has undergone numerous changes including a metamorphosis into a suite rather than a single offering.

A visit to London for the recent Intel Labs Day told me new things to come and also the current relationship with McAfee a company now part of their portfolio. An Intel Anti-Virus is something for the future here I tell you about what is available now.

The main problem with a product 18 versions old is when you remember the first one. Corel were one of the main reasons you got a CD drive. It was all the extra content they provided in images and fonts. Now the download needs a fast connection as its 1.8GB.

You have probably heard, on more than one occasion, the popular sayings of “As pretty as a picture” or “The camera never lies”. These two saying were far more appropriate yesterday than in today’s more computer dominated society. We now have access to a number of software applications that do their best to improve on the former saying and misrepresent what is delivered by the latter. One such product is Portrait Professional from Anthropics.

While many, if not most, computer software applications have been designed for regular if not in daily use, there are a few applications that hopefully will only be called upon in an emergency.

From its German base, MAGIX has developed the latest version of its slideshow creating software.

Being old I still find it strange that items are sold with one year licences, like most things I have I expect them to last forever, however as we old people die out I am sure that you having a one year licence for everything will become the norm.

Like many others, I’m sure, I have a number of VHS tapes containing videos capturing personal memories. Sadly these videos are often neglected due to the fact that they rely on technology that is not of the most recent kind and the player required for viewing this content no longer forms part of my current entertainment set up. Offering to help get round this type of problem is a product from MAGIX. This is entitled Rescue your Video Tapes!

Oil and water not mixing is a popular conception that I would be surprised if you had not heard many times before. Some might even apply the same though with regards to the operating systems developed by Microsoft and Apple. However those inventive people at Parallels headquarters, based in Seattle, would certainly not agree with this point of view.

It is welcome back to an old friend as the latest version of one of my favourite products arrives in its version 20 guise.

Corel has a number of products for the creation and editing of graphics including one that is perhaps not as high-profile as some others

Along with the recently purchased PC Tuneup software, AVG has added software for the Mac and Android devices to offer an all-round performance boost.

As users now own different devices capable of Internet access with its associated dangers, companies are now offering protection covering a range of devices.

Ensuring your computer is protected from outside attacks is your responsibility. This next product provides one way of adding this protection.

ABBYY FineReader 12 Professional is an extremely accurate and versatile optical character recognition (OCR) package. It is easy to use for run-of-the-mill jobs with good, clean text but can also deal with less than perfect text as well as complex documents which include tables and images.

It is up to you to make sure your computer is protected from malicious threats with appropriate software.

While not as high profile as some of the other products from the Corel stable, Pinnacle Studio is well established and comes with numerous bonus offerings.

Since its first appearance, many years ago, as the software of choice for many users when it came to burning content to disc, Nero has developed into a HD Multimedia Software Suite of tools. Nero is now available in its 2016 version with Classic and Platinum flavours depending upon your needs. I have been looking at the Premium product which comes with a Content Pack that is made up of video effects and themes for use to enhance your own project